Band-cutter and feeder for threshing-machines.



. PATBNTBD PEB.1'7. 1903. A. A. THOMAS. BAND CUTTER AND FEEDER EoETHRESHING MAGHINES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 17. 1902.

2 BHEETSSHEBT N0 MODEL.

PATENTED FEB. 17, 1903.

A. A. THOMAS. BAND CUTTER AND FEEDER FOR THRBSHI'NG MACHINES.

APPLIOATION FILED MAY 17. 1902.

2 snnnTs-snnm 2.

N0 MODEL.

U ITED STATES P TENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR A. THOMAS, OF PORTLAND, INDIANA.

BAND-CUTTER AND FEED ER FOR THRESHlNG-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 720,637, dated February17, 1903.

Application filed May 17, 1902.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, ARTHUR A. THOMAS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Portland, in the county of Jay and State of Indiana, haveinvented a new and useful Band- Outter and Feeder forThreshing-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is an improved band-cutter and feeder forthreshing-machines; and it consists in the peculiar construction andcombination of devices hereinafter fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of aband-cutter and feeder embodying my improvements, showing also a.portion of a threshing-machine to which the band-cutter and feeder isattached. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal sectional View of the same.Fig. 3 is a Vertical transverse sectional view of the same, taken on aplane indicated by the line Ct a of Fig. 2.

The feed-trough 1 may be of the usual construction and is here shown asprovided with a longitudinally disposed centrally-located dividing-board2. In Fig. 1 of the drawings .the near side board of the feed-trough isomitted; but the side boards of the feedtrough are indicated at 3 inFig. 3.

An endless traveling feed-carrier 4 comprises suitable endlesssprocket-chains 5 and cross-bars 6, connecting them together. The upperlead of the said endless feed-carrier travels on the bottom board 7 inthe feedtrough, and the cross-bars of the feed-carrier are provided withcutter-blades a, which project outwardly therefrom.

the carrier chains 5 also engage sprocketwheels 10, and the lower leadsthereof engage idler sprocket-wheels 11. The inner portion Preferablythe. said cutter-blades are of the form shown in.

The sprocket-chains of the feed-car- $erial No. 107,842. (No model.)

of the feed-carrier, Within the mouth 12 of the threshing-machine andgrain-separator, is disposed above a vibratory pan 13. The said pan isinclined downwardly-and rearwardly toward the threshing-cylinder 14. Nomeans are here shown for vibrating the pan 13 and rotating thethreshing-cylinder, as the same are well understood by those skilled inthe art to which my invention relates and may be of any approvedconstruction.

' Under the vibrating pan 13 and at the front end of thethreshing-machine casing is a revoluble fan or blower 15, the casing ofwhich is provided with a rearwardly-extending discharge-spout 16, whichis disposed under the vibrating pan 13 and which terminates opposite andat a suitable distance from the front side of the threshing-cylinder.'It will be on derstood. that the blast from the said fan will bedischarged directly toward and against the front side of thethreshing-cylinder.

Above the inner portion of the feed-carrier is a presser-grate 17,having longitudinallydisposed bars 18, appropriately spaced apart andwhich are preferably curved, as shown in Fig. 2. The saidpresser-grateextends transver'sely across the upper side of the mouth ofthe threshing-machine, and the front ends of the bars 18 thereof aresecured to a cross-bar 19, which is supported above the mouth of thethreshing-machine and is vertically adjustable to raise and lower thebars of the presser-grate as may be desired. Within the scope of myinvention the said cross-bar and presser'grate may be supported andvertically adjusted by any suitable means, and I do not desire to limitmyself in this particular. For the purpose of this specification thecasing is shown as provided-with uprights 20 on opposite sides of thefeed-mouth thereof. A crossbar 21 is shown as secured to and connectingthe upper ends of the said uprights, and the adj usting cross-bar 19,which forms the part of the presser-grate, is shown as secured to thebar 21 by bolts 22, the said bar 19 having vertical slots 23, in whichthe said bolts are disposed. A deflector 24, which may be either of theform here shown or of any other approved construction, is disposed inrear of the presser-grate above the 'rear portion of the feed-carrierand above and somewhat in advance of the threshing-machine cylinder, and

the said deflector is here shown as being hinged at its rear side, as at25, so that its front portion may be raised or lowered to dispose thesaid deflector at any desired inclination. A transversely-disposedcrank-shaft 26 is located above the presser-grate and is journaled insuitable bearings 27. The crankarms 28 of the said crank-shaft aredisposed at suitable angles with reference to one another, and to eachof the said crank-arms is connected a feeder-arm 29. The upper ends ofthe said feeder-arms are pivotallyconnected to the front portions oflink-bars 30, as by pins or bolts 31, and the said link-bars areprovided with series of adjusting-openings 32, in any of which the pinsor bolts 31 may be inserted, so that the upper ends of the feederarmsmay be adjustably connected to the front portions of the link-bars. Therear ends of the latter are pivoted on a shaft 33, which is carried bylongitudinally-adjustable supports 34. I have here shown a band-pulley35 at one end of the crank-shaft 26, a band-pulley 36 at one end of thecylinder-shaft 37, a pulley 38 at one end of the blower-shaft, and anidler-pulley 39 below and somewhat in advance of the last-mentionedpulley. An endless belt O connects the pulleys 35, 36, 38, and 39. Hencethe blower and the crank-shaft, which operates the feeder-arm s, arerotated by power communicated thereto from the threshingmachinecylinder. I do not desire to limit myself to this means for operatingthe blower and the feeder-arms crank-shaft, as any suitable means may beemployed for this purpose without departing from the spirit of myinvention and within the scope of the appended claims. Thefeeder-armsoperate downwardly and rearwardly below the bars of the pressergrate andin the spaces between the said bars and move forwardly and upwardlyabove the said bars of the presser-grate, as may be understood. To thelower end of each feederarm is secured a band-cutting knife 41.Prefferably the same are of the construction shown in Figs. 2 and 3 andhave sharpened cutting edges on their front and rear sides.

In the operation of my invention the sheaves, which are placed in thefeed-trough, are carried by the feed-carrier under the presser-grate.The latter serves to prevent the sheaves from moving upwardly from thefeed-carrier, and the operation of the feederarms causes their knives 41to move downwardly into and rearwardly through the sheaves from thebutts to the heads thereof, and in so doing to cut the bands of thesheaves, as will be understood, and this cutting of the bands is alsofacilitated by the action of the knives 7, which are carried by thefeed-carrier, and which knives pass under the sheaves when the motion ofthe latter is temporarily arrested or retarded by the presser-grate. Notonly do the knives 4.1

serve to cut the bands of the sheaves, but the same, owing to the motionof the feederbars 28, which carry them, serve to urge the grainforwardly and to dispose the butts thereof upward1y,so that the grainslides forwardly and downwardly from the innerportion of thefeed-carrier toward the threshing-machine cylinder, this movement of thegrain being facilitated by the deflector 24B and the action of thefeeder-arms being such as to toss the individual straws or stalks of thesheaves after the bands of the same have been cut to fall apart tofacilitate the passage of the grain to the threshing-machine cylinder.The blast from the fan or blower catches the grain,tends further toloosen the same, and also forces the grain directly against the frontside of the threshing-machine cylinder, so that the grain is caughtthereby and subjected to the conjoint action of the cylinder andconcave. Such loose grains as drop from the sheaves while they are onthe carrier fall upon the vibrating pan 13 and are fed from the latterto the threshing-machine. On the upper side of the said vibrating panare rearwardly-inclined toothed racks 13, which prevent any grain frombeing carried forwardly by the under lead of the feed-carrier.

In practice each of the outer feeder-arms will have a single knife 41 atits lower end, and each of the intermediate feeder-arms will have a pairof such knives disposed on opposite sides thereof, as shown in Fig. 3.

The board 16, which forms the lower side of the blast-spout, isremovable to facilitate access to the threshing mechanism. This boardforms an inclined plane disposed in the space between the fan or blowerand the threshing mechanism below the discharge end of the carrier andabove the concave of the threshing mechanism. The grain as it falls fromthe discharge end of the carrier is arrested by this inclined plane andcaught by the blast from the fan, the initial motion of the grainrearwardly, caused by the action of the carrier, the downward andrearward inclination of the board 16, and the blast from the fan allcontributing to feed the grain to the threshing mechanism.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- 1. The combination of anendless traveling feed-carrier having band-cutting knives, a relativelyfixed substantially semicylindrical presser-grate disposed transverselyabove the same, with its convex side presented thereto, a revolnblecrank-shaft, feeder-arms connected to the cranks of said shaft, adaptedto operate in the spaces between the bars of the presser-grate andhaving band-cutting knives at their lower ends, and links connecting theupper ends of said feeder-arms to a relatively fixed point, the radiusof the cranks of the crank-shaft being such that the lower ends of thefeeder-arms are caused to move downwardly and rearwardly below the barsof the presser-grate and forwardly and upwardly above the same,substantially as described.

2. The combination of a feed-carrier, having band-cutting knives securedthereto, a

movable downwardly and rearwardly below the bars of the presser-grateand through the spaces between the said bars,1substantia11y asdescribed.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixedmy signature in the presence of two witnesses.

' ARTHUR A. THOMAS.

Witnesses:

N. R. GRIFFITH, E. E. THOMAS.

